Joe Biden’s National Park Service under Interior Secretary Deb Haaland will remove the statue of William Penn from the park erected in 1982 to commemorate the 300th anniversary of his founding of the colony of Pennsylvania. The park is on the site of his original home in Philadelphia.
The park, located in Philadelphia near the Delaware River at Sansom and Second Streets, will be “rehabilitated” and that proposal will include an “expanded interpretation of the Native American history of Philadelphia.” The plan was “developed in consultations with the representatives of the indigenous nations of the Haudenosaunee, the Delaware Nation, Delaware Tribe of Indians, the Shawnee Tribe, and the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma.”
While much of the original design of the park will remain, the statue of Penn and the model of his original home “will be removed and not reinstalled.” The Park Service claims that at some later date, which is not currently funded, there will be a new exhibit that mentions Penn and his work founding what became the state named for him as well as the city of Philadelphia.
The National Park Service, led by National Park Service Director Charles Sams III, who boasts Native American ancestry as does his boss Haaland, runs a substantial portion of Philadelphia’s historic sites. This agency is in charge of nearly 54 acres of historic sites in the Old City neighborhood, where the Penn home once stood. The Biden administration praised Haaland when she was appointed for becoming “the first Native American to serve as a cabinet secretary.” Equity, as the Biden White House recently stated, has “always, always” been “at the center of every policy.”
These sites include Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence was signed and the Constitution drafted and debated, the Liberty Bell, Congress Hall,…


Fashion designer Delores Gull was a model of urban Indigenous style at the Niska Noël market on Saturday. Gull’s label Cree Style by Delores, features original ribbon skirts often made from Teton trade cloth, a Texas-based company run by the Delaware Tribe. Gull is busy planning an Indigenous Fashion Historical Teachings Gathering in Cochrane on Feb. 29. The location is yet to be determined. NICOLE STOFFMAN/THE DAILY PRESS